Campaigns · Perryville, Kentucky, Chickamauga, Missionary Ridge, Atlanta, Jonesborough, Franklin, Nashville
HistoryCentral · Primary Source & History GENERAL MARC PERRIN LOWREY, CSA VITAL STATISTICS BORN: 1828 in McNarry, TN. DIED: 1885 in Tennessee. CAMPAIGNS: Perryville, Kentucky, Chickamauga, Missionary Ridge, Atlanta, Jonesborough, Franklin, Nashville. HIGHEST RANK ACHIEVED: Brigadier General BIOGRAPHY Mark Perrin Lowrey was born on December 30, 1828, in McNairy County, Tennessee. As a young man, he moved to Tishomingo, Mississippi.
He worked as a bricklayer, and was poor and illiterate. Although he enlisted as a private in the Mexican War, he saw no action there. After being discharged, he began learning from a private tutor. While still pursuing his education, he became a Baptist minister at the age of 24. In 1861, his congregation and community urged him to accept a commission as colonel of the 4th Regiment of state volunteers.
He later raised the 32d Mississippi Infantry in April of 1862, and fought at Perryville. Despite his lack of combat experience, he performed well, and distinguished himself in the Kentucky Campaign and the Battle of Chickamauga. Promoted to brigadier general on October 4, 1863, he participated in the Battle of Missionary Ridge and the Atlanta Campaign. Leading a division in the Battle of Jonesborough, he took over brigade command in the Franklin and Nashville Campaign.
While in the army, he took part in a religious revival, and baptized 50 men in one two-week period in the spring of 1864. He resigned his commission in March of 1865, and returned to his ministry. Lowrey established the Blue Mountain Female Institute in Mississippi in 1873, and wrote for "The Christian Index," a religious newspaper. Lowrey died while traveling in Tennessee, on February 27, 1885.